Alex's Dissertation Blog - Feed Me To The Wolves

Today the film was exported out and burned to disk now that it is a finished film with soundtrack, foley and credits. I also handed in all my paperwork; prop lists, set design inspiration, continuity sheets and editing notes. Trailer for Feed Me To The Wolves 

After production had finished and all the filming had been completed it was time to move on to post-production. My role in post was assistant editor so I sat with the main editor Joe and director Dan and began the process of putting together the first rough cut of the film which came in at 28 minutes. Over the next few weeks we came in every day and some days got more work done than others.  Joe and I worked closely together to edit the film, discussing what length shots to use after Dan had specified which takes he wanted us to include. Having worked with both of them before we managed really well and are very open to each other's suggestions. I got the chance to actually take the lead on a few cuts and do some of the editing myself. After Dan was happy with the picture cut Joe began the laborious process of colour correcting and I stayed and helped with that too as a fresh pair of eyes was a good idea to help him balance the colours we wanted for the film.  After the pic...

A bloody nose, sheep and snow were the only issues with the final day shooting. Only the 3 siblings and their spears were needed today. Working with these actors has been great, they're all really willing to do all the things that the script asks of them as well as being a pleasure to work with. Overall the past 9 days have been tough but we've produced some great shots and next week me and Joe will start in the edit room with Dan making a rough cut of the film that we can then edit down and cut out before the picture lock is done.

Weather was a problem today as we kept having spots of rain. I had to make sure we didn't film during this time else continuity in the edit would ruin the scene. I also had to make sure that the props and set weren't spoiled by the rain too. The spears were of course needed again today for the three siblings as well as the fake meat and a campfire. As I was totally against using any kind of real fire in the set i had to find a way to make the campfire look burnt already so found rocks and sticks to create the campfire and Lauren helped me to cover the sticks with black paint to make them appear charred and burnt. We went up further up the hill today to shoot the notice board scene too. Again I used dirt and branches to make it look like the board had been there for a long time, using tape to make it seem like some other posters had come off. Using branches and some rocks I made it seem as though it was weathered to fit in with the film feel. Today was the day ...

We had the major fight scene today. This took a lot of choreographing and I had to make sure I was in with the crew filming to make sure I could take videos of each shot to ensure that the actions matched up every time.

Today was just the siblings up in Blythe. We started with a scene that involved a lot of set design setting up. I had tents, crates, water jugs, tarps and spears to account for and the weather wasn't on my side because it was so windy, putting up the tents was a hassle. After make-up was done, my set was finished too however there were some horses getting closer and then we were made aware that this was private land so had to pack up and move only a few metres away. Annoyingly, this cost us some time but we managed to make up for it later.

Today is the final day of filming for the first week. Everyone is very tired so today was just a case of getting in and out as fast as we could. Continuity was what I was focusing most on today as there was no set needed and only a rock prop needed too. Made sure that there was no blood on Rob or Sam's costume as we needed to film scenes that appeared earlier in the film after today. I can already tell that this will be a tricky scene to edit when the time comes for post as I think we need a couple more shots in that aren't already down on the shot list. I'm sure me and Joe can work it out

Today we were up in Thrunton Woods again filming the scene where Jonathan meets the siblings. This involved a lot of set design and set up. I pitched the tent I was using for the siblings which everyone especially Dan were pleased with. Using the black tape I bought for the supply box, I put some on the tent to make it look as though there were tears in it and it was well used and not brand new as well as covering it in dirt to make it look worn. Around the camp I pulled branches and twigs to make it look more lived in and not just a tent in the middle of the woods.

As joe is now in the edit room every day Jen is now responsible for filming behind the scenes footage. As i am editing the bts video i had to ask her to film certain parts of the shooting day so that the idea i had for what the video would look like would work. Unfortunately I didn't get all the footage i would have liked to include in the video and also would have liked the quality to have been better but there was just enough footage to work with in the end of the day. More bad news came today when we found out someone who had donated £100 had backed out from the kickstarter fund so that meant the budget suffered a big loss which meant both Lauren and I suffered a lot as we've spent hundereds on the film on props, set design, costume and make-up but setback aside, its all for the film and the set i made today looked great. I used the tent and tape to make it look older and more worn down as well as creating a lived in camp for the siblings in the woods to make it appear as ...

Today was possibly the most fun day of the entire shoot. We had great weather yet again. Continuity was tricky today due to Connor - Sam getting his head dunked in the river. I had to make sure we had a towel and warm clothes for him ready for after he was out of the water and to make sure the blood on his face and hands weren't an issue when it came to the edit. He was very cooperative and we were lucky he was so up for trying more than one take. This shoot day took a lot of specific details for me to look out for when setting up different shots such as marks for the actors and for props too. When it came to Connor - Sam falling over I had to make sure each angle we shot from used the same foot before he fell and we had to use myself dan and chris to be there to make sure he wasn't injured when he was running.

Today was the first day of filming inside PC world for the only interior shots of the film All of the props and set were safely in Dan's dads motorhome which we were lucky enough to be able to borrow for the whole of filming thanks to the generosity of Dan's dad Colin. This meant all of my things were with us every day of the shoot and easily accessible to for every scene we needed.

For scenes 2 - 4, Sam and Rob are eating the animal they caught out on the hunt in scene 1. Once I had the final copy of the script, I knew that sourcing the raw meat would be the trickiest prop to find. I began by searching for ways to make a fake food props online on film sets and found a post by Eric Hart – a prop master and prop maker at Triad Stage in North Carolina. http://www.props.eric-hart.com/how-to/fake-food-making-inedible-replicas/ This lead me to many forums more specifically targeting raw meat substitutes that are actually edible for the actors. Some suggestions included thick slices of bread dyed with red food colouring, red foam cut out or cooked chicken painted with red and blue dye. The latter being the option I thought likely to work best, after meeting with the actors I asked if there were any dietary requirements and unfortunately, the actor playing Sam was a vegetarian so the cooked chicken option was no longer going to work. I went back to searching for ed...

We had a table read today with all of the crew and majority of the cast including all the main three siblings. I had a chance to ask if there were any dietry requirements of the two Connors who were playing Rob and Sam for when I made the raw meat and also of Harriet who was playing Maggie if she was okay with eating cold beans in some scenes too.

As well as being script supervisor as my main role, I also took on the role of being the prop master and also the set designer. This involved me gathering all the props and set we needed to make the film. To start with I did a script breakdown so I could get a list of everything we needed from the spears as weapons down to the tents and crates used for the set in all the locations. As we were filming in only a few days once I had a final script sent over I went online to see where I could get certain things. Due to the short time between filming and gathering what I needed, I looked for shops I could go to and buy the items in real life to save time on any shipping or delivery days. After making notes on places nearby where I could get things once the budget came in, I went and scouted out what I wanted. Taking photos and writing down prices of different varieties from different stores meant I could go with the cheapest ones whilst also sending the photos to director Dan to make su...

Living in the wild and having to hunt for their food, the script called for spears to be used by all of the characters as their form of defence and hunting tools. In total there were 9 characters in the film all of whom required a spear. At first when looking for different designs, I thought about hunting spears - with metal tips. However, in fitting with the tone and style of the film, there wouldn't be much chance to add these metal tips on and they would more likely find strong sticks that they could carve pointed ends into. When we went on location recces, I looked around for possible sticks I could use to turn into spears. However, the places we visited were very wet and all of the trees and sticks in the forests were too damp or rotten for me to be able to use. I went back home and found a place with a lot of cut down trees that I was allowed to choose from and I found some branches that were strong enough to be used for and also dry. I collected a total of 12...